AFL chief executive, Andrew Demetriou
On behalf of the AFL Commission, I want to wish Ben well for the future and for whatever he does next with his life. He should be remembered as an outstanding footballer - a premiership player and Brownlow Medallist among his many achievements - and a player who drove himself to get the absolute best from his skills during his time in the game.
Ben has shown that if you have a serious problem in your life and you choose to seek help, you can overcome addiction with the support of friends and family. His story is one that highlights the dangers of drugs but also shows that people can change their behaviour.
Former coach at West Coast, John Worsfold
Just a special player, just one of the great players. There's always great players running around that you just love watching and I think he was certainly one of those. He was a good player to coach and certainly we'll all remember him as one of the great players of the West Coast Eagles. Most of the great players have unbelievable work ethics, and then a lot of players that aren't so great have unbelievable work ethics. So that's not something unique. But the package of talent, work ethic, unique skills of hitting the ball flat-out and taking it clean under pressure.
There's some games where he just took it on himself to make sure the team was going to win. Certainly one at Optus Oval, in the last quarter he just did all he could to make sure the team was going to win. There was a few occasions like that. He's got a lot of support around him, [and] I know all his family and friends will support him any way they can and wish him well.
Former team-mate, Quinten Lynch
Look I played with Ben for a lot of years and (he's) still probably the most inspirational leader I've ever played on. Great stalwart of the club, life member, always will be loved at this club, loved by the supporters, loved by the people in the club and loved by the blokes he played with. I watched him on the weekend, he played very well, so just be sad to see him leave the game.
Opponent in 2005 and 2006 grand finals, Brett Kirk
He's been a super player and the way he's gone about getting back to where he is, I think is going to inspire some people out there. He's gone to the bottom of the well and to be able to pick himself up (is inspirational). But yeah, over the time we've had some great battles. I've run with him a few times and in terms of gut running and running to exhaustion there's none better than Ben Cousins and that's what I'll remember him for, those absolute runs to exhaustion where we run until he bends over and vomits on the ground.
He has been a great footballer but at the end of the day people will remember him how they remember him, you can't influence that. We go about and do things during footy and our lives and we can't actually control what other people think of us.